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COPYRIGHT DEPOSrr. 




Places Noteworthv in the Settlement and Growth of Penns\-lvania 



The 

Settlement of Pennsylvania 

BY 

WALTER LEFFERTS, Ph. D. 



'Act well thy part, 
There all the honor lies." 



Illustrations by 

MARTHA FLECK BROWN 



FR.'\NKLIN PUBLISHING AND SUPPLY COMPANY 

PHILADELPHIA 






Copyright, 1922, by 
FRANKLIN PUBLISHING AND SUPPLY COMPANY 



NOV 18 '22 

©CI.A6HR985 
'Ho I 



Preface 



"In the beginning" are the first words of the Bible nar- 
rative, and fascinating indeed is the story of the beginning 
of any worthy achievement. The main facts concerning 
the founding of Pennsylvania have become treasured in 
our national history, and are known, at least in outline, to 
most Americans; yet it is well for all citizens, and particu- 
larly all Pennsylvanians, to renew their knowledge of the 
birth and growth of a great commonwealth, the second 
among our many states in wealth and population. 

The figure of Penn, the beloved Founder of the colony, 
a great and good man, who saw his golden dreams blossom 
into reality, is one which should never be forgotten. From 
the melting-pot of his Pennsylvania settlement such value 
came forth that we look with better heart at the mixture 
of races in the national life of today. Many other worth- 
while characters are met in this short chronicle. 

This book is designed to give a survey, brief, yet more 
detailed than the accounts found in general American 
histories, of our state's early development up to the time 
of the Revolution. The style is adapted to the compre- 
hension of any pupil of the upper elementary grades or the 
junior high school. By word and by picture the narrative 
has been made as clear and as interesting as the space 
would allow. 

Walter Lefferts. 

Philadelphia, October i, 1922. 



Table of Contents 



PAGE 

I. The Dutch Explorers and Settlers 7 

Henry Hudson — The Dutch Companies — Zwaanendal and Bevers- 
rede — De Vries. 

II. The Dutch Conflict with the Swedes 12 

Peter Minuit — Governor Printz — Peter Stuyvesant — The Old 
Swedes' Church. 

III. English Possession and Penn's Grant 16 

English Conquest — Penn's Bargain with Charles II — The Quakers 
— The Grant — The Three Lower Counties. 

IV. Founding the Province 23 

Markham — Thomas Holme — Penn's First Visit — The "Welcome" — 
Philadelphia — Government. 

V. Indian Relations and Boundary Disputes 31 

Treaties — The Lenape — Penn's Second Visit — Logan — Rittenhouse, 
Mason and Dixon — The Walking Purchase — Connecticut. 

VI. The Early Settlers 46 

The German Settlers — The Welsh — The Scotch-Irish. 

VII. Education 53 

Beginnings of Education — The Penn Charter School — Franklin's 
Academy — Pastorius — "The Log College." 

VIII. The Industrial Growth of Pennsylvania 57 

Agriculture — Manufact uring — Printing — Ship-building — Com- 
merce. 



The Settlement and Growth 
of Pennsylvania 



I. THE DUTCH EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS 

Hudson Discovers Delaware Bay. — On a hot August 
day of 1609, nearly one hundred and seventeen years after 
Columbus discovered the New World, Henry Hudson's 
Httle vessel, the "Half-Moon," sailed into Delaware Bay, 
but soon grounded on one of the many shoals. As soon 
as the rising tide lifted her from the sand, Hudson made 
haste to leave such shallow waters. He was sure that in 
this direction did not he the passage to the Pacific which 
he sought. 

That summer afternoon's exploration, short though it 
was, gave to the Dutch a claim on the land which we call 
Pennsylvania. Hudson, though an Englishman, was in 
the Dutch service, as were many of his countr>Tnen at the 
time. Holland therefore announced that the country along 
the South River, as the combined Delaware bay and river 
were called, belonged to her. 

When he returned to Holland, Hudson reported that 
the land along the North or Hudson River was rich in 
furs; and this news soon brought other Dutch vessels to 
that part of America. Cornelius Mey, about 1614, sailed 

7 



8 THE DUTCH EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS 

into the South River and named the capes at the entrance. 
Cape May records the captain's name, and Cape Henlopen 
or Hindlopen takes its name from a Dutch town. 

The Dutch West India Company. — Holland at this 
time had just risen victorious from her long and deadly 
struggle with Spain. Her ships and her seamen had enabled 




The "Half-Moon" Aground in Delaware Bay. 



her to maintain the contest; and now she planned to use 
these ships and these men in securing new commerce from 
far-off lands. 

The great Dutch East India Company had already been 
formed to trade with the isles of spice which the hardy 
navigators of Holland had visited. It was for this com- 



THE DUTCH EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS 9 

pany that Hudson made the voyage during which he 
discovered the river which we call by his name. The pow- 
erful East India Company proved so profitable that a similar 
combination of merchants, the Dutch West India Com- 
pany, came into being (1621). One of the many privileges 
of this new company was the power to plant colonies in 
America. 

Holland Colonizes in America. — At this time all the 
strong nations of Europe were stretching out their hands to 
grasp portions of the New World. Spain, France, and 
England made enormous claims. St. Augustine, Quebec, 
and Jamesto\\Ti, tiny settlements in a vast wilderness, 
stood as signs of these claims. In the same summer in 
which Hudson sailed past the Palisades of the North River, 
Champlain was shooting down the chiefs of an Iroquois war- 
party and John Smith was peaceably buying from the savages 
the Virginia ground upon which Richmond now stands. 

Holland now entered the field. Captain Mey, under the 
direction of the West India Company, returned to America 
as "director-general" or governor of the new Dutch colonies. 
Leaving at Manhattan most of the settlers whom he brought 
with him, Mey continued his voyage to South River. As- 
cending this, he planted a colony ninety miles from the sea 
at Gloucester Point, opposite the present site of Philadelphia. 
There he built a stockade and called it Fort Nassau (1623). 
A few young couples and a handful of sailors remained and 
established the first European settlement on the banks of 
the Delaware. 

Zwaanendal and Beversrede. — The Dutch, however, did 
not push far into the wilderness. Fort Nassau did not 
prosper. Eight years passed before another Dutch settle- 



10 



THE DUTCH EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS 



ment was made on the South River, and this time it was near 
Cape Henlopen, on Lewes Creek. The colonists brought 
over many cattle to grow fat on the salt marshes. Perhaps 




De Vries Looks at the Ruins of His Colony. 

because the leader, De Vries, saw great flocks of wild geese, he 
called the new colony Zwaanendal, the valley of swans. 

When De Vries revisited Zwaanendal the next year he 
found nothing but destruction and death. In a quarrel over 



THE DUTCH EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS il 

a theft, an Indian had been killed. His tribe then fell upon 
the settlers and left only their bones. Murdered settlers? 
burned houses, and slaughtered cattle might well have de- 
pressed De Vries. He continued his voyage, however, up 
the river to the future site of Philadelphia, and was delighted 
with the products of land and water — wild turkeys and deer 
that swarmed in the woods, and the fish, so numerous that 
one haul of a seine fed thirty men. 

The junction of two rivers is always a favorable point 
for fighting or trading, so the Dutch governor of New 
Netherland sent Arent Corsen from New Amsterdam to 
occupy the point between the Delaware River and the 
Schuylkill. The Schuylkill or "hidden river" was so called 
by the Dutch because its mouth was hard to see from the 
main channel of the Delaware. Corssen bought the desired 
land from the Indians, and here, at Passyunk, was later 
erected the Dutch fort of Beversrede or Beversrode, 
meaning Beaver Road, the track by which beaver-skins 
were brought from the interior of the country. 



II. THE DUTCH CONFLICT WITH THE SWEDES 

Sweden Enters Upon the Scene. — Sweden now aimed to 
be a great power and was taking a prominent place in 
European affairs. One of the steps toward realizing her 
ambition was to imitate the other powers of Europe by gain- 
ing land and planting colonies in America. Only six years 
after the beginning of the Dutch West India Company, a 
Swedish trading company was formed (1627) on the same 
plan. On account of the death in battle of the great Swedish 
king, Gustavus Adolphus, no American expedition was made 
by the Swedes until ten years had passed. 

At last a former governor of New Netherland, dissatisfied 
with his treatment by the Dutch, brought out the first 
Swedish colony. This leader, Peter Minuit, tried to avoid 
landing near the actual Dutch posts, and therefore settled 
his colony (1638) on the bank of a creek at the place where 
Wilmington, Delaware, now stands. He named the creek 
Christina or Christiana, in honor of Gustavus' daughter, the 
young queen of Sweden. The fort which he erected was 
called Fort Christina. Minuit became governor of "New 
Sweden," which the Swedes expected would become "the 
brightest jewel of the kingdom." 

The Activities of Governor Printz. — For a time the 
Dutch and the Swedes lived in harmony along the South 
River and Dutch stockholders held shares in the Swedish 
company. There were lands and beaver-skins enough for 



THE DUTCH CONFLICT WITH THE SWEDES 



13 



all settlers and traders; but it was clear that this happy 
state of affairs could not long continue. 

Five years after Minuit had landed, a new governor, 
John Printz, arrived. The Swedish government had in- 
structed him to oppose the Dutch and secure a firm hold 
upon the region. With a soldier's eye, Printz recognized that 
Fort Christina, two miles inland, could not command the 











' ^^ s^i..'*' * 






[//''i&^,// Bill .t- 

Printz's Settlement at Tinicum Island. 






river. He therefore established himself at Tinicum (now 
Essington), a little below the mouth of the Schuylkill. 

Within a strong palisade, and guarded by a fort, were 
the little church and Printz's wonderful log mansion, which 
was actually two stories high!^ On the eastern shore near 
the mouth of Salem Creek he built another fort, which 
stopped hostile vessels from coming up the river. By a 
blockhouse at the mouth of the Schuylkill, Printz closed that 

^The site of Printz's orchard at Essington is still called "The Orchard." 



14 THE DUTCH CONFLICT WITH THE SWEDES 

Stream also to Dutch trade. He tried to drive away the 
Dutch when they built Beversrede. 

Peter Stuyvesant Replies. — For a short time the Dutch 
of New Amsterdam were so busy fighting Indians that they 
could pay but little attention to the proceedings of Printz. 
Finally, however, "Old Silverleg," Peter Stuyvesant, ap- 
peared upon the South River, bringing a body of troops. 
Now it was soldier against soldier. 

Stuyvesant made new treaties with the Indians, and 
warned the Swedes that they were trespassers. As this 
produced no effect, Stuyvesant abandoned Fort Nassau and 
built Fort Casimir in the enemy's territory, near the spot 
where now stands the town of New Castle. 

The Swedes in Fort Christina and the Dutch in Fort 
Casimir were only five miles apart. As long as Printz re- 
mained governor, their mutual dread of the English kept the 
two nationalities peaceful. But when, after three years, a 
new Swedish governor appeared, he at once celebrated his 
arrival by capturing Fort Casimir with its powderless garri- 
son of twelve. 

New Sweden Passes Away. — The Swedish capture of the 
little Dutch fort was a great mistake. A few months later 
seven Dutch ships, carrying six hundred men, anchored 
before Fort Casimir. The force was too large to be resisted. 
Stuyvesant took bloodless possession of all the Swedish 
posts and forever ended Swedish rule in America (1655). 

Sweden had been a dangerous rival of the Dutch power, 
but now Holland was supreme along the Delaware and 
claimed the land on both sides of the bay and river as far 
as the Falls where Trenton now stands. As for the three or 
four hundred Swedes in the region, for the most part they 



THE DUTCH CONFLICT WITH THE SWEDES 



15 



peacefully accepted Dutch government. They were quiet, 
mdustrious farmers, with plenty of cattle, grain and fruit. 
To them it did not greatly matter who ruled; their mill on 
Cobb's Creek would grind Dutch wheat as merrily as 
Swedish. The little town of Upland, now Chester, became 
the center of the Swedish settlements. 

The quaint old Swedes' Church, Gloria Dei (built 1700), 
still stands to remind us of the Swedish settlement at Wicaco 




The Old Swedes' Church at Wicaco. 



or Weccacoe, in the southern part of Philadelphia. Many 
of the descendants of the Swedes have been numbered among 
the best citizens of Pennsylvania. So far as developing the 
country was concerned, the Swedes were better inhabitants 
than the Dutch. 



III. ENGLISH POSSESSION AND PENN'S GRANT 

The English Conquest of New Netherland. — The Dutch 
were left in triumphant possession of the South River for 
only nine years. England was determined to control North 
America. In 1664 King Charles the Second granted to his 
brother James, the Duke of York, most of New England, 
beside "all the land from the west side of the Connecticut 
River to the east side of Delaware Bay." 

This grant was intended to include all the lands occupied 
by the Dutch Accordingly, the Duke fitted out an ex- 
pedition to take possession of his grant. When the English 
frigates arrived at Manhattan Island, fiery Stuyvesant 
wished to resist, but the Dutch burghers would not support 
him, and without any bloodshed New Amsterdam passed 
under the rule of the Duke and became New York. 

An English force then sailed for the Delaware, but the 
Dutch Fort Casimir, or New Amstel, did not so tamely sur- 
render. The first actual battle along the Delaware took 
place; several of the Dutch were killed or wounded, and the 
English conquerors, enraged at meeting opposition, sold 
many of the settlers into slavery in Virginia. The Duke of 
York received a special grant of the land on the west side of 
Delaware Bay. This included New Amstel, which was re- 
named New Castle. 

Penn's Bargain with Charles II. — English settlers began 
to people the lands thus seized. Salem and Burlington grew 
up in New Jersey, as the region east of the Delaware was 

i6 



ENGLISH POSSESSION AND PENN'S GRANT 



17 



called. Among the settlers of New Jersey were many Friends 
or Quakers, who came because they were not allowed to 
practice their reHgious principles in England without being 
persecuted. 

The followers of this religion liked to call themselves by 
the peaceful name of Friends; but they were usually known 
as Quakers, and often, in fact, spoke thus of themselves. 




Quaker Arrested in Meeting. 



The name Quaker originated in 1650. George Fox, their 
founder, having been arrested, boldly exhorted the magis- 
trate to "tremble at the word of the Lord." Thereafter 
Fox's followers, in mockery, were called "Quakers." 

The Friends held principles which, many persons con- 
sidered, struck at the foundations of government. They 
refused to pay taxes to support the Church of England ; they 
would take no oath to support the government; they paid 



l8 ENGLISH POSSESSION AND PENN'S GRANT 

no especial reverence to officer, nobleman, or king; and they 
set their faces against all violence or warfare. 

All these peculiarities were founded upon spiritual ideas 
which the Quakers believed were for the betterment of the 
world; but the people of authority in England detested the 
Quaker practices. The Quaker, with his democratic manner 
of worship, his peculiar way of speech, and his apparent con- 
tempt for form and ceremony either in law or religion, was 
an object of persecution. Many of the Quakers courted 
punishment. They were fined, imprisoned, whipped, and 
sold into slavery; but nothing could quench their zeal. 

Penn and His Debt.— When Stuyvesant surrendered 
New Amsterdam, a lad of twenty, named William Penn, 
was taking much interest in the Quaker doctrines. The lad's 
father, rich Admiral Penn, friend of the king, opposed his 
son's leanings; nevertheless, at the age of twenty-four, Penn 
became a thorough Quaker. Three times he was thrown 
into prison, once for six months, but he continued to speak 
and write in defense of his faith. 

Upon the death of the Admiral, William Penn became a 
wealthy man. He was already a leader among the Quakers. 
For many years, ever since he was a boy in college, Penn had 
been interested in America as a place of refuge for the people 
of his faith. About this time New Jersey was divided into 
two portions, and Penn, favored by the king in spite of his 
religious beliefs, became a trustee or manager of West Jersey 
and part owner of East Jersey. Hundreds of Quakers emi- 
grated to "the Jerseys," although that portion of America 
seemed barren to the farmers coming from the fertile fields 
of old England. 

From his father Penn had inherited a large claim against 



ENGLISH POSSESSION AND PENN'S GRANT 19 

the Crown.' Admiral Penn had never received his full 
salary as admiral, and, in addition, had lent money to the 
government. King Charles the Second, although in some 
ways a good man of business, was called the "Merry Mon- 
arch," because he squandered so much borrowed money 
upon foolish pleasures. William Penn let the debt nm for 
ten years after his father's death. By that time, with in- 
terest, it amounted to sixteen thousand pounds, equal in 
our day to perhaps a half-million dollars. 

Penn did not expect that the money would ever be repaid, 
so he conceived the idea of taking land in America as pay- 
ment of tlie great debt, and of making this land a Quaker 
refuge.- Some of the New Jersey settlers wrote Penn, 
saying: "The Indian country on the west side of the Dela- 
ware is most beautiful to look upon, and only wanteth a 
wise people to render it the glory of the earth." 

King Charles and his councillors readily agreed to give 
this land to Penn in payment of the debt — a bargain which 
seemed profitable for the Crown. In 1681 Perm received 
the grant, which was a great tract of unexplored land, lying 
west of the Delaware and north of Maryland. "My God, 
that has given it to me through many difficulties," wrote 
Penn, "will, I believe, bless it and make it the seed of a 
nation." 

1 Although "the Crown" means the government of England, it betokens 
a peculiar kind of government. The king is considered the head of all gov- 
ernment, and everything done by government authority is supposed to be 
done by him personally. Our President is not supposed to hold supreme 
power in our government, but in Penn's time the King was supposed to be 
the "fountain of power." His personality and the government are legally 
one and the same. 

^ George Fox had already made long journeys through the Jerseys and 
Maryland and no doubt had discussed his travels with Penn. 



20 



ENGLISH POSSESSION AND PENN'S GRANT 



The Extent and the Name of the Colony. — Penn himself 
was allowed to write much of the charter, and he copied 
many parts from that charter by which Maryland had been 
granted to Lord Baltimore fifty years before. He was lord 
of the land, but to show that England still had authority he 




King Charles Signs the Grant to Penn. 

was required to deliver two beaver-skins to Windsor Castle 
each New Year's Day, and to give the Crown a fifth part of 
all gold and silver which might be discovered. 

The province was supposed to extend three degrees in 
latitude and five in longitude; but on account of the poor 



ENGLISH POSSESSION AND PENN'S GRANT 21 

maps of those days, the king's councillors failed to see that 
their three degrees of latitude conflicted with the claims of 
both Maryland and Connecticut. It is said that this charter 
gave rise to more boundary disputes than did any other in 
American history. Eventually, however, Penn's province 
included about 40,000 square miles, an area as large as Ire- 
land and Wales combined. 

Being of Welsh descent, Penn wished to name his colony 
New Wales, especially as America had already contained 
New Sweden, New Netherland, New Jersey, and New 
England. When that title was rejected, Penn proposed 
"Sylvania" or "Woodland." King Charles adopted this 
designation, but declared it should be "Penn-sylvania." To 
Penn's sober mind the addition of his own name savored of 
pride, and he offered the clerk who "engrossed" the charter 
twenty guineas to change the title. The "Merry Monarch," 
however, with a twinkle in his eye, vowed that he was not 
honoring William, but the Admiral. Penn was forced to 
submit, and Pennsylvania or "Penn's Woods" remains the 
name to this day. 

The Counties on the Delaware. — The new colony, great 
as was its extent, lacked one important advantage — a front- 
age on the sea. Penn soon recognized this fact and besought 
the Duke of York to give him "the lower counties on the 
Delaware" which the Duke had gained from the Dutch. 
So powerful was Penn's influence at court that five months 
after Penn had received his Pennsylvania charter, the Duke 
granted him this "Delaware Colony" without question. 

These three counties have remained three to the present 
time. They were called "the Delaware counties" or "the 
lower counties." For twenty years they were governed as 



22 ENGLISH POSSESSION AND PENN'S GRANT 

part of Pennsylvania; then they secured a legislature of their 
own, which met at New Castle. From "the Delaware 
colony" to "the colony of Delaware" and finally to the state 
of Delaware, the steps were easy. 

The "Holy Experiment." — The founding of his colony 
Penn considered a "holy experiment." In it he saw the 
hand of God. Ever since he was a youth of eighteen he had 
joyfully dreamed of such a religious refuge for those who were 
persecuted. Now his colony was to have liberty of religion. 
The people were to make their own laws, which were to be 
taught to the school-children. At a time when liberty in 
religion and in government was only a name, Penn proposed 
to establish real religious and political freedom. 

Although Penn thought that the presence of the Indians 
should not prevent the whites from settling the region, he 
declared that the whites should pay the natives for their 
land and should treat them with perfect fairness. A number 
of merchants wished to organize a company to monopolize 
trade with the Indians of Pennsylvania; but though they 
offered Penn a large sum, he would not grant them the 
privilege lest they abuse it. Penn determined that his 
colony should be "an example and a standard to the nations." 



rV. FOUNDING THE PROVINCE 

Markham Arrives. — A month after Pcnn had received 
his charter for the colony, he dispatched his cousin, Colonel 
William Markham, to take possession in Perm's name. 
IVIarkham proceeded to the banks of the Delaware, and 
showed the settlers his legal documents together with a 
letter from Penn. He took up his residence at Upland, and 
called a council of nine men who set up a court and so started 
Penn's government. 

We must not think of Pennsylvania as a totally wild 
region at that time. For many years there had been scat- 
tered settlements along the river. About a thousand Swedes 
were living between New Castle and the present site of 
Philadelphia, and mingled with these were some Dutch and 
many English. On the Jersey side of the river, Salem had 
been established six years and Burlington four. The shores 
of the Delaware up to the Falls (where Trenton now stands) 
were well known, and were ready for occupation, as the 
Indians gave no trouble. 

The New City. — In the letter which Markham carried, 
Penn had written to his colonists that he expected to see 
them that fall, but business prevented him from carrying 
out his plans. The "proprietor" found himself extremely 
busy with the affairs of old settlers and of new emigrants. 
He wrote pamphlets showing the advantages of Pennsyl- 
vania. These were translated into several foreign languages, 
and were spread broadcast in Germany, Holland, and the 

23 



24 



FOUNDING THE PROVINCE 



British Isles. So successful was Penn's advertising that 
three emigrant ships sailed to the Delaware that year (1681). 
Meanwhile Penn had sent out three commissioners to 
find the proper site for a city and to buy land from the 
Indians. He instructed the commissioners to find a spot 
along the river which would be high and healthful, where 
large ships could come up to the bank, and where a navigable 




^^j-L. 




Thomas Holme Surveying the Site of Philadelphia. 



stream joined the Delaware. ''There," Penn said, "I will 
settle a great town." 

Markham and the commissioners examined all the 
Pennsylvania shore between Upland and the Falls of the 
Delaware in order to find such a place as Penn desired. 
They discovered, not far above the mouth of the Schuylkill, 
a steep, high bank, bordered by such deep water that the 
vessels could come close to shore, so close indeed that the 
boughs of the trees touched the rigging. Two miles west of 



FOUNDING THE PROVINCE 25 

this spot flowed the navigable Schuylkill, a highway for 
trade with the ''back-country." 

This desirable site was occupied by the farms and dwell- 
ings of a few Swedes, who called the place Wicaco. Below 
the settlement stood a blockhouse to which the settlers 
journeyed through the woods to attend church service, 
Gloria Dei or Old Swedes Church stands today on the site 
of the old blockhouse. Colonel Markham bought the land 
from the Swedes and directed Thomas Holme, ' the surveyor, 
to lay out the town. 

The town had already been planned in Penn's fertile 
brain. It was to be laid out in checker-board fashion, with 
most of the streets fifty feet wide — a generous allowance for 
that day. In the center of the city, where two one-hundred- 
foot streets were to intersect, a square of ten acres was to 
be placed to accommodate public buildings. In each quarter 
of the city Penn designated another sc^uare of eight acres for 
the pleasure of the citizens. Each city house was to stand in 
the center of a large lot, surrounded by trees and gardens. 
Penn visioned "a green country town, which shall never 
be burnt, and always be wholesome." There is little of the 
green country town now in Penn's portion of Philadelphia. 

Penn's Visit to His Colony. — At last, nearly eighteen 
months after he had received his charter, William Penn was 
ready to visit his colony. It was the final day of summer 
when he bade farewell to his wife and children and em- 
barked on the "Welcome." The ship carried a hundred 
other passengers, mostly Quakers who had been neighbors 

1 Holinesburg, in the northern part of Philadelphia, takes its name 
from Thomas Holme, as does also the branch of the Free Library located in 
Holmesburg. 




Newcastle Settlers Bring Turf, Twig, and Water. 



86 



FOUNDING THE PROVINCE 



27 



of Penn. On the voyage of eight weeks, small-pox, a com- 
mon disease then, broke out among the emigrants. Penn, 
with other compassionate men, tended the sick night and 
day, but before they sighted land thirty of the hundred died. 
When the "Welcome" reached New Castle, Penn called 
the people together in the court-house built by the Dutch. 
After he had exhibited his deeds to the Delaware Country, 
two of the settlers, in token of his right to the waters, the 
land, and the forests, brought to him a porringer of river- 




Cave in the River-bank. 



water and mud, and a sod into which was stuck a twig. 
Two days later Penn proceeded to Upland, where he found 
most of the English who had come over before him. He 
changed the Swedish name of the little town to Chester. 

At Philadelphia. — A few days afterward, in early Novem- 
ber, Penn and his chief officers took boat up the river to the 
site of the new city. A little stream, deep at its mouth, had 
cut through the steep bank. On the sandy beach of this 
little Dock Creek, a settler had built a house and called it 
"The Blue Anchor Inn"; there Penn landed. He saw few 



28 



FOUNDING THE PROVINCE 



houses, but many lots were marked off as sold. He was 
delighted with the situation. "Of all the places I have seen 
in the world," he said, "I remember not one better seated." 
Perm soon let people know that the name of Wicaco was 
to give place to "Philadelphia." One of the seven churches 
of the early Christians in Asia Minor was in Philadelphia, 
"the city of brotherly love." Probably Perm thought that 




Penn's "Letitia House. 



the words of the Bible, referring to the church of the ancient 
Philadelphians, applied to his own citizens: "Behold, I have 
set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it." 

From the forest trees which shaded the ground Penn 
drew the names of the streets, changing some titles which 
the commissioners had given. There were Chestnut, Walnut, 



FOUNDING THE PROVINCE 29 

Vine, Sassafras, Mulberry, Spruce, Pine, and Cedar. High 
(now Market) Street ^ ran from river to river and was crossed 
at Center Square by Broad, which extended north and 
south. A Front Street bordered each river, and from each 
Front Street the streets were numbered toward Center 
Square, for instance, Delaware Second, Delaware Third; 
'Schuylkill Second, Schuylkill Third. 

' When Penn made his visit to Philadelphia, there were 
probably not more than twenty houses on all the land which 
Philadelphia now covers; but colonists soon began to pour 
in. During the year following (1683) at least fifty vessels 
arrived, bringing nearly three thousand people. Many of 
these built houses outside of Philadelphia, but at least one 
hundred and fifty houses were erected within the city limits. 
Though most of these were small, the majority of them were 
of substantial stone or brick.^ The houses were crowded, 
and for some time a number of people lived in rude shelters 
built half underground. Many of these were along the bank 
of the Delaware, below Front Street, which bordered the 
top of the high shore. By the end of 1684 six hundred 
houses composed the city, and the success of Philadelphia 
was assured. 

Laws and Government. — In addition to the three counties 
in the "lower peninsula," now Delaware, Penn laid out three 
more in Pennsylvania — Bucks to the north, along the 
Delaware ; Philadelphia County, extending along the Schuyl- 

^ Many cities of England have their High Street, which means merely 
Main Street. A highway or highroad is a main road. 

2 Penn himself lived in a small two-story brick house, built especially 
for his use. Later he gaven the house to his daughter Letitia. It was finally 
* taken to pieces and rebuilt in Fairmount Park, near the Zoological Garden. 
On account of its second owner, it is sometimes called the "Letitia House." 



30 FOUNDING THE PROVINCE 

kill; and Chester on the west and southwest. From these 
six counties Penn called representatives to form an "assem- 
bly." Penn submitted to the assembly a collection of laws 
which he had framed, and, with a few changes, these were 
adopted as the "Great Law," which plainly shows us Penn's 
advanced ideas. The "Great Law" provided: 

1. That all who belived in one God should have freedom 

of worship. 

2. That criminals were to be reformed in prison if pos- 

sible, and therefore should be taught a useful trade. 

3. That every child of twelve should be taught a trade. 

4. That public schools were to be established. 

As for the form of government, it was devised in another 
plan of Penn's, called the "Frame of Government." By this 
there were to be three parts of government: first, the gov- 
ernor, either the proprietor or his representative; second, a 
council, elected by the people; third, a general assembly, 
elected by the people. The council was to propose laws, 
which would be accepted or rejected by the assembly. 
The governor and council together were to execute the laws 
and appoint any needed officials. This "Frame" was also 
adopted by the assembly. Now Pennsylvania had both a 
plan of government and a body of laws to guide her steps. 



V. INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY 
DISPUTES 

Indian Treaties. — Before Penn arrived in America he 
had given instructions to the settlers that the Indians 
and the white man were to be equal in the eyes of the 
law. All land taken by the whites was to be gained by 
treaty and purchase. Two weeks after Markham reached 
Pennsylvania he bought from the Indians the land 
where Philadelphia now stands, and beyond it to the 
mouth of Neshaminy Creek. Some items of the payment 
were: "20 white Blankits,20 gunns, 200 small Glasses, 2 hand- 
fulls of fishhooks, 2 anchers of Rumme, 2 anchers of Syder." 

In Penn's many councils with the Indians, however, no 
liquor was given to them. One of these meetings, concerning 
a purchase of land, became famous in history, and was 
represented in a picture by Benjamin West. According to 
tradition, it took place beneath a giant elm near the river- 
bank at Shackamaxon (now Kensington), where Penn was 
then living. 

"When the purchase was agreed," writes Penn, "great 
promises passed between us, of kindness and good neigh- 
borhood, and that the Indians and English must live in 
love as long as the sun gave light." "Having a white 
governor who treats us well," said the Indian orator of the 
day, "we must never do him or his any wrong," and he 
delivered to Penn a wampum belt for the occasion. ^ 

Penn, unlike many whites who had made such promises, 

1 The wampum belt supposedly given to Penn is preserved by the His- 
torical Society of Pennsylvania. It represents a man wearing a hat and 
clasping the hand of an Indian. 

31 



32 INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES 




Indians Bringing Game to the Settlers. 



INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES 33 

kept his word. The Indians kept theirs. Wliile Penn hved, 
no drop of Penns\'lvania blood was shed by a red man. The 
fame of this treaty, "never signed and never broken," 
spread to Europe. During the Revolutionary War, the 
British General, Simcoe, who was quartered near the Treaty 
Elm, so respected it that when his soldiers were cutting down 



Penn's Wampum Belt 

trees for firewood he placed around the elm a guard. ^ The 
colossal statue of Penn which surmounts the City Hall of 
Philadelphia looks toward the site of the elm, to remind the 
inhabitants that their city was founded on truth and justice. 

As a result of kindly relations with the Indians, the 
colony never suffered either famine or massacre, as did 
Massachusetts and Virginia. The savages supplied the 
Philadelphia settlers with game and com. There are 
stories of the red men bringing home strayed children. 
Because such peace and confidence existed, settlers poured 
into Pennsylvania. 

The Lenape. — The Indians met by the first settlers 
called themselves the Lenni Lenape, or simply the Lenape. 

^ The Treaty Elm fell in a storm in 1810. Its site is marked by a modest 
monument, built in 1827, which stands in the little Penn Treaty Park, on the 
Delaware, near the foot of Columbia Avenue. 



34 INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES 

They were of the same great Algonquin nation as Samoset 
and Massasoit at Plymouth or Powhatan and Pocahontas 
at Jamestown. By the white men the Lenape of Pennsyl- 
vania were called the Delawares. 

In days not long before the coming of Penn the grim 
Iroquois of central New York had made bitter war upon the 
Lenape. Finally the Delawares, being vanquished, were 
forced to promise never again to fight. An Iroquois chief 
was always posted near their lands to see that the Delawares 
kept their agreement. Among the Delawares, here and 
there, lay settlements of a fiercer tribe, the Shawnees, a 
restless and wandering people, whose name often occurs in 
the annals of our state. ^ 

It has been said that the peace of Pennsylvania was not 
due to Penn's upright treatment of the Indians, but that it 
was preserved by the Iroquois overlords, who were friendly 
to the English, and who allowed no Delaware to raise his 
hand against the whites. While this is true in part, never- 
theless, if Penn and his settlers had illtreated the savages, 
no power could have prevented individual outbreaks. For 
nearly seventy-five years, indeed, no serious Indian trouble 
occurred in the colony, 

Penn's Second Visit. — Penn returned to England in 
1684, expecting soon to revisit his beloved colony; but so 
many affairs pressed upon his attention that fifteen years 
passed away before he saw the province once more. When, 
in 1699, bringing his family with him, Penn again reached 
Philadelphia, he scarcely knew the town. 

Instead of a few hundred houses, as there were at Penn's 

^ Shawnee, a summer resort some miles above the Delaware Water Gap, 
preserves the name of the tribe. 



INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES 35 

departure, Philadelphia and its immediate neighborhood 
contained two thousand dwellings, inhabited by ten thou- 
sand people. As many more settlers lived in the remainder 
of Pennsylvania. Penn soon decided that the great city of 
Philadelphia needed a police force of one night-watchman 
to call the hours and to frighten away thieves. 

The people of Pennsylvania were glad to see their pro- 
prietor, and he was delighted to be with them. The province 
had been a great expense instead of a profit, and many 
political disputes had arisen; but now that Penn had come 
among his settlers, all, he hoped, would be well. 

On the Delaware, above Bristol, stood Penn's great 
brick mansion of Pennsbury. The tract upon which it was 
built is still called Penn's Manor, though no trace of the 
fine house remains. As the creeks between Pennsbury and 
Philadelphia were not bridged, Penn could not use his coach 
in traveling to the city; but in pleasant weather he forsook 
his horse for a six-oared barge. 

In the midst of this outdoor Hfe, so delightful to Penn, 
rumors arose that King William intended to take the pro- 
prietary colonies, such as Maryland and Pennsylvania, away 
from their owners and rule them directly by the Crown. 
Although Penn had once recommended that all the colonies 
should be under a common government, he did not fancy 
giving up his province just then. "All I have in the world 
is here," said he. With much regret he embarked again for 
England to counteract this movement. Penn's second visit 
to Pennsylvania had lasted less than two years; though he 
hoped soon to return, fate disappointed his dream. 

During Penn's stay in the colony, his well-educated young 
Scotch-Irish secretary, James Logan, had become more 



36 



INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES 




INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES 37 

than a helper — a close friend. Before Penn sailed away, he 
appointed Logan his financial agent and secretary of the 
province. "I have left thee in an uncommon trust," said 
Penn ; and well did Logan keep that trust. Governors came 
and governors went, but Logan remained, more powerful 
and more faithful than they. For fifty years he was one of 
Pennsylvania's most prominent men. 

Logan collected or tried to collect the rents due to Penn. 
When money was not forthcoming he accepted grain, furs, 
or an\thing else which could easily be sold. Without Logan's 
aid, the last years of Perm's life, clouded as they were by men- 
tal failure, would have been still more oppressed by the weight 
of poverty. In political affairs so earnestly did Logan main- 
tain Pcnn's rights as proprietor that his opponents impeached 
him on false charges and sought to put him into prison. 

After living in Philadelphia more than twenty-five years, 
Logan decided to build a country home. On a beautiful 
spot at the southern end of Germantown he erected a hand- 
some mansion, which he called Stenton.^ There he collected 
a fine library of volumes. 

Logan assisted Franklin's httle new librar}', which be- 
came the Philadelphia Library, ^ the first circulating library 
in the colonies. He also erected a special librar>' building 
for the use of the pubHc and placed in it a collection from his 
own Stenton books. At his death Logan willed the col- 
lection to the city, and forty years later this "Loganian 
Library" was united with the Philadelphia Library. The 

1 Stenton still stands in excellent preservation near the Wayne Junction 
station of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. It is owned and main- 
tained by the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames. 

^ The Philadelphia Library still flourishes. Over the door of its building 
at Locust and Juniper Streets, Philadelphia, is a statue of P^ranklin. Penn's 
writing-desk is on exhibition in the Library. 



38 INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES 

books, more than three thousand in number, are still kept 
at the Ridgway Library branch of the Philadelphia Library, 
at Broad and Christian Streets. 

At various times Logan held all the chief offices of the 
city and colony. Governor, Mayor, Chief Justice, President 
of the council — in every post he rendered good service. 
Numerous transactions with the Indians were also entrusted 
to Logan. Many a time they camped on the grounds of 
Stenton and slept, rolled in their blankets, in its brick- 
paved hall. A hundred Iroquois once stayed for three days 
as Logan's guests. Logan carried on in provincial affairs 
the kind and just Indian policy which Perm had instituted. 

During his long life Logan represented as successive 
proprietors William Perm, his wife Hannah Penn, and their 
three sons. Penn himself died in 1718, after six years of 
mental incapacity, and Hannah Penn became owner of the 
province. At her death in 1733, her three sons, John, 
Thomas, and Richard, assumed the government. John 
had been bom in Philadelphia and was therefore called "the 
American," but he left most of the American affairs to 
Thomas, who built a mansion and lived in Philadelphia 
nine years. At the beginning of the Revolution it was 
Penn's grandsons who held the power over Pennsylvania 
which they lost when the colonies gained their independence. 

The Boundary Dispute. — One of the first affairs of Penn 
in America was a meeting with Lord Baltimore to settle the 
boundary between their provinces. Maps of America were 
not then very exact, and when at last careful observations 
were taken, it was found that the parallel of 40°, which Lord 
Baltimore claimed as his northern line, was situated fifteen 
miles north of the place where it was at first supposed to be. 



INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES 39 

According to Lord Baltimore, Philadelphia lay within Mary- 
land. Penn, on the other hand, claimed that the language of 
his charter entitled Pennsylvania to extend as far south as 
39°, taking in most of Maryland. 

The dispute was not settled in Penn's time; it dragged 
along for nearly eighty years; then in 1760 the line was fixed 
just where it originally had been intended to run. By the 
maps of Penn's day it appeared that the fortieth parallel 
was twelve miles north of New Castle and fifteen miles 
south of Philadelphia. When the boundary line was actually 
surveyed, it was necessary to carry out the intention of King 
Charles II, the royal giver of the colon}-, in accordance with 
this former mistaken idea. Accordingly a portion of a circle 
was drawn with the New Castle court-house as a center. 
That point of circumference which touched the shore of 
Delaware Bay was twelve miles northeast of the court- 
house. The remainder of the southern boundary of Penn- 
sylvania was to extend west from this circle along a line fifteen 
miles south of the most southern street of Philadelphia. ^ 

Rittenhouse, Mason and Dixon. — Da\ad Rittenhouse, 
the famous Philadelphia astronomer and mathematician, 
laid out the New Castle circle and did it so well that later 
surveys could not find any fault in his work. In 1763 two 
expert English surveyors, Charles Mason and Jeremiah 
Dixon, came to Pennsylvania to check up and complete the 
work. Mason had been an assistant in the Royal Obser- 
vatory at Greenwich, near London. 

For four years Mason and Dixon worked to mark out 
the long line toward the west. As their party proceeded, 

> A few technical details of the boundary have been omitted for the sake 
of simplicity. 



40 



INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES 




Mason and Dixon Warned by the Indians. 

they opened a twenty-foot lane through the trees, in the 
middle of which ran the boundary line. At every fifth mile 
they set up a stone pillar with the Penn coat of arms on one 



INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES 41 

side and that of Lord Baltimore on the other. The stones 
at the intermediate miles bore only "P" and "M" on the 
opposite faces. 

The Indians became suspicious of these people who 
stared at the stars with "big guns" and made a road through 
the forest. In spite of the savage threatenings, which made 
a number of their party desert, Mason and Dixon pressed 
on over the Allegheny Front and past the Monongahela 
River, until they came to a great Indian trail, used for cen- 
turies. Here the Indians at last compelled them to return. 
Two hundred and thirty miles of the line had been laid 
down, and only thirty-six remained to be surveyed. 

The names of the bold surveyors have become household 
words. "Mason and Dixon's Line" came to signify the 
boundary between the North and South, between free- 
states and slave-states. It separated the opposing ideas of 
our country, and w^as the parting between two differing t>'pes 
of civilization. No boundary line in our history has been 
more famous. In Civil War days the land lying south of 
that line was referred to as "Dixie." 

The Walking Purchase.— W^en Penn died, the Delaware 
Indians felt that they had lost their best friend. The colony 
was growing so fast that many settlers pushed out into the 
wilderness and built cabins on land which had not been 
bought from the natives. Although the governor of Pennsyl- 
vania tried hard to prevent this, and sometimes burned the 
cabins of the trespassers, the settlers continued to crowd 
upon the Indian lands. The Delawares realized that they 
were being pushed farther and farther away from their old 
hunting-grounds, and they became sullen and threatening. 
About twenty years after Penn's death, the whites 



42 INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES 

fixed their eyes upon the land north of the Lehigh River. 
This tract had never been purchased from the Indians, 
but the settlers rushed into it and began to clear away the 
forest. When the Delawares complained, the officials of 
Pennsylvania decided to get the land away from the Indians. 

According to tradition, William Penn had bought from 
the Indians a tract of land along the Delaware extending 
northward three days' walk. With some of his friends and 
a few Indian chiefs, Penn set out one morning from the 
mouth of the Neshaminy Creek and the party walked in a 
leisurely way from sunrise to sunset. They sat down to 
eat lunch and now and then paused to smoke a pipe. At noon 
of the next day they reached the spot where Wrightstown 
now stands, near the Neshaminy, and here Penn stopped, 
saying that he would complete the walk at another time. 

A Fraud on the Indians. — The three days' walk had 
never been finished; therefore the governor announced 
that his men would now carry it on. Secretly he marked 
the way in advance. He selected the three most active 
woodsmen that could be found. At sunrise the three men 
sprang away from the big tree at Wrightstown which 
marked the end of Penn's walk. The sheriff, with men carry- 
ing food, liquor, and blankets, followed them on horseback, 
and three Indians accompanied the party to see fair play. 

The Indians expected that the whites would walk as 
Penn had done; when they saw the woodsmen running 
along a blazed trail, they complained bitterly. "No sit 
down to smoke," they said; "no stop to shoot squirrel; 
just run, run, all day." Before sunset the Indians, tired 
out and disgusted, turned back, leaving the Pennsylvanians 
to their own devices. 



INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES 43 

The Indians thought that this "Walking Purchase" 
would surely extend no farther than the lower part of the 
Lehigh River where it flows directly east; but at the end 
of twelve hours the woodsmen had walked, or rather run, 
beyond that line. One man had become exhausted, but 
next day the other walkers took up the trail once more, 
following the Lehigh. At noon Edward Marshall, the only 
walker remaining, reached the spot near the present site 
of Mauch Chunk. 

Instead of drawing a line eastward from that point to 
the Delaware, Thomas Penn slanted it northeast, up to 
the mouth of Lackawaxen Creek, far above the Water Gap. 
The settlers thought that the "Walking Purchase" was a 
great joke on the Indians, but it was a joke that brought 
blood and fire in its train. 

Result of the Purchase. — When the Indians refused to 
leave the lands north of the Lehigh, the governor called 
their masters, the Iroquois, to remove them. Pleased with 
the valuable presents given by the whites, the Iroquois 
ordered the Delawares to move to the Wyoming Valley. 
The Delawares could not resist both the white men and 
the Iroquois; they left their old hunting-grounds and went 
westward; but they did not forget their wrongs. 

In a few years England and France declared war 
against each other, and the conflict extended to America. 
The Delawares seized the opportunity; they returned to 
their former lands, bearing tomahawk and scalping-knife. 
One of the Moravian settlements in the Lehigh Valley 
was entirely wiped out, the colonists were massacred by 
hundreds, and some of the war-parties came within thirty 
miles of Philadelphia. Edward Marshall did not escape 



44 



INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES 



their vengeance. His cabin on an island in the Delaware 
was burned, his wife and children were butchered. Penn- 
sylvania paid dearly for her trickery toward the Indians. 

The Quarrel with Connecticut. — Just as Maryland 
claimed the southern part of Penns)'lvania, so Connecticut 
laid claim to the northern portion. The Connecticut charter 




C on 



iiLLtiLut bettkrs Dim over the Wyoming 



Valley. 



(1662) made that colony extend to the Pacific Ocean. Such 
grants were usual in those days, and were not intended to 
prevent other colonies being located later on wild land to 
the westward. Pennsylvania was thus established. 

Connecticut, however, held to the original language of 
her charter. By looking at the map we can see that such 
a westward stretch of Connecticut would slice off the whole 
northern part of Pennsylvania above the Delaware Water 
Gap and the forks of the Susquehanna. 



INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES 45 

The claim was not pressed until near the time of the 
settlement of the southern boundary of Pennsylvania. 
Then, in 1750, some Connecticut explorers looked down 
upon the North Branch of the Susquehanna as it flowed 
through the beautiful valley of Wyoming, unsettled except 
by Indians. The people of Connecticut became wildly 
enthusiastic concerning this "earthly paradise," and formed 
a Susquehanna Company which bought the valley from the 
Iroquois. 

Connecticut settlers came in crowds to the Wyoming 
Valley. The descendants of Pemi attempted to expel them, 
and there began the "Pennamite Wars." Five times the 
expeditions sent by the Penns drove out the Connecticut 
arrivals and destroyed their homes, but at last the persistence 
of the New Englanders won the day. The Penns gave up 
their attemi)ts, and the Wyoming region, embracing the 
present site of Wilkes-Barre and its neighborhood as far as 
Scranton, was filled with people from the "Nutmeg State." 

At the beginning of the Revolution, the Penns ceased 
to be proprietors and their colony became a State. During 
the war, the dispute with Connecticut was laid aside, but 
as soon as Comwallis surrendered Penns}'lvania brought 
the matter before Congress, and Congress decided that 
Cormecticut had no right to the land in question. This 
was the first serious controversy between States which 
Congress had been compelled to decide. The fact that the 
decision was quietly accepted gave new strength to the 
American Union. Pennsylvania could now develop m 
peace with her boundaries established.^ 

1 In 1799 the settlers from Connecticut paid a small price for their land 
and were given clear title by Pennsylvania. 



VI. THE EARLY SETTLERS 

The German Settlers. — In the year when Philadelphia 
was begun, Francis Daniel Pastorius, a learned German, 
with nine friends and servants, arrived at the little wood- 
land settlement. Pastorius and his companions were the 
scouts of the great army of German emigrants who were 
about to come to Pennsylvania. There had been wars 
along the Rhine, and much religious persecution. William 
Penn had traveled, preaching, through western Germany, 
and had sent into various parts of northern Europe agents 
who described the advantages of life in the New World. 
Those who suffered by war or persecution eagerly turned 
toward Perm's peaceful colony. 

Joining forces with other Germans who arrived, Pastorius 
led his group of colonists to the high land near the Wissa- 
hickon, "two hours' journey" from Philadelphia. Here 
grew up a pretty village, straggling for two miles along a 
wide main street which we still call Germantown Road. 
The village itself received no special name, so the Phila- 
delphians called it the German town or Germantown. 
Most of the Germans who came to Pennsylvania at this 
time were Mennonites, whose beliefs resembled those of the 
Quakers, so that they made good and friendly feUow- 
citizens for Penn's English colonists. 

The Great German Immigration. — For the first quarter- 
century of Pennsylvania's life the Germans did not arrive 

in large numbers; but after that time the English govem- 
46 



THE EARLY SETTLERS 



47 



ment encouraged them in going to America. From 1705 
up to the Revolution, multitudes flocked to the colony 
which offered them cheap land and good treatment. Among 
these were many different sects — Mennonites, Tunkers or 
Dunkers (Seventh Day Baptists), Schwenkf elders, Mora- 
vians, Lutherans, and Reformed. 

Regardless of sect, the Germans delighted in farming. 
They knew the best land, and pushed out into the wilder- 
ness in search of fertile tracts, especially in the limestone 









The Straggling Village of Germantown. 

valleys. In these farming districts grew up towns with 
such German names as Manheim, Lititz, Hamburg and 
Womelsdorf. By the time of the Revolution, Franklin 
estimated that one-third of the people of Pennsylvania 
were Germans. 

Although the Germans clung to their old ways and 
speech, and were in general opposed to education, every 
one admitted that they were industrious, honest, and 



48 



THE EARLY SETTLERS 



economical. These quiet, conservative people formed a 
firm foundation for the prosperity of the colony. Some 
notable men were found among them. 

One of the most influential Germans was Christopher 
Sauer, whom we sometimes call the German Franklin. 
Sauer set up a printing establishment in Germantown. 
All his publications were in German. From his olhce 




ii. I 



German Settlers Farming. 



came a popular yearly al- 
manac, and a newspaper 
which was eagerly read from 
New York to Georgia. Al- 
though he had to make his 
own type and ink and bind 
his own books, Sauer published the first German Bible 
printed in America. 

Count Zinzendorf, rich and well educated, was the 
leader of the Moravians, who settled Lititz, Nazareth, and 
Bethlehem. The settlement of Bethlehem lay on the road 
from New England to the Southern colonies, and its Mora- 
vian inns hospitably entertained most of the great men of 
early days. As their leader was a man of education as well 
as of noble mind, the Moravians established academies 
which even today have high reputations. 



THE EARLY SETTLERS 49 

The great Moravian work, however, was the conver- 
sion of the Indians. Fearlessly Count Zinzendorf went 
among the savages. His life was spared as if by miracle, 
and he was followed by scores of fellow-missionaries. Al- 
though the results of their labors were almost wiped out 
by the French and Indian War, the zealous Moravians 
did wonderful work in peacefully protecting the borders of 
Pennsylvania. 

At Womelsdorf, near Reading, lived Conrad Weiser, 
the son of a German emigrant to New York. Weiser learned 
the Mohaw^k language, and became Pennsylvania's official 
agent in dealing with the Iroquois. He served Maryland 
and Virginia as well. After Braddock's defeat Weiser 
kept the Indians of eastern Pennsylvania true to the whites 
and with a volunteer force protected the border. One of 
our historians has said: "Had all white men been as just 
and friendly to the Indians as w^as this Pennsylvania German, 
the history of our westward advance might have been 
spared some bloody chapters." 

Finally, we must not forget that from the Peimsylvania 
Germans came the first protest in our country against 
slavery. Pastorius and his Mennonite friends were ahead 
of their times. In 1688 they sent to the yearly meeting 
of the Quakers a petition saying that it was not Christian- 
like to keep slaves. Nothing was done by the Friends at 
this time, but in later times it was the P>iends who were 
foremost in urging that slavery be abolished. 

The Welsh Settlers. — Many Quakers from Wales came 
over among the first settlers, and the Welsh emigration to 
Pennsylvania continued until 1700. The Welsh spoke a 
tongue ver>^ different from English, and as few had mastered 



50 



THE EARLY SETTLERS 



the English language, they desired a separate tract where 
they could keep their own speech and customs. Penn, 
therefore, gave them forty thousand acres in the region 
now traversed by the Lancaster pike and the main line 
of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The Welsh created three 
prosperous townships, Merion, Haverford, and Radnor, 




!^^>-^si>. 'A^\ 



\\ cL.Ii 1 ij.\ iiuiiUi 



and their land came to be called the Welsh Tract. Penn 
preached at the Haverford meeting-house in 1701, but few 
of his hearers could understand him. 

Unlike the German emigrants, many of the Welsh were 
well-to-do, and led the life of gentlemen farmers. They 
loved dress and social life, and delighted in fox-hunting. 
As more Welsh arrived, they spread out into townships 



THE EARLY SETTLERS 51 

to the west and north, such as Newton, Goshen, and 
Uwchlan. The Montgomery County' towns of Penllyn, 
Gwynedd, and North Wales remind us of these early settlers. 
Bryn Mawr, Berwyn, Bala, Cynwyd, and Cain are all 
Welsh names, and St. David's is named after the patron 
saint of Wales. 

Wales has great slate quarries and coal mines. A num- 
ber of the Welsh who came to Pennsylvania during the nine- 
teenth century were miners. We note their settlements at 
Bangor and Pen Argyl, slate-quarrying towns on the south- 
em side of the Blue Mountains. In the coal regions, par- 
ticularly the Wyoming Valley, the Welsh became numerous 
and form one of the best elements of the population. 

The Scotch=Irlsh. — During the seventeenth century, 
many of the people of Scotland were encouraged to emigrate 
to the North of Ireland and settle in the Province of Ulster. 
These Scotch people were intelligent and industrious Low- 
landers of English stock and Presbyterian sect. They suc- 
ceeded well in their new home. To distinguish them from 
the native Irish, they became known as the Scotch-Irish. 

These Scotch-Irish became pioneers in America. Prob- 
ably a majority of all the Scotch-Irish who crossed the At- 
lantic came to Pennsylvania. They swarmed into Chester, 
Bucks, and Lehigh counties. As they did not mix well 
with the Germans, they gladly sought the frontier lands, 
where their race would be alone. In the central and w^estern 
parts of Pennsylvania sprang up many Scotch-Irish com- 
munities. The mountain valleys west of the Susquehanna, 
however, particularly the Cumberland Valley, became 

1 Montgomery, Radnor, and Merioneth arc three of the shires or counties 
of Wales. 



52 



THE EARLY SETTLERS 



peculiarly their home, as the limestone valleys among the 
hills of eastern Pennsylvania had drawn the Germans. 
The names of Derry, Donegal, Newry, Tyrone, Nisbet, 
Carlisle, Scotland, and McConnellsburg commemorate the 

Scotch-Irish settle- 
ments. 

The Scotch-Irish 
were just the people 
for the frontier, al- 
though it must be 
said that they some- 
times caused the 
very troubles which 
they had to face. 
The rifle was ever in 
their hands, and they 
gave Indians no 
quarter. The life 
which they lived was 
wild and rough, but 
it gave the strength 
and vigor needed for 
success. The savage 
met his match when 
he encountered the Scotch-Irish fighters. Independence, 
intelligence, and hardihood were their outstanding virtues, 
and when peaceful times dawned, these qualities produced 
many of the best men of Pennsylvania. ^ 

' The only President whom Pennsylvania has produced was James 
Buchanan, of Scotch-Irish blood. 




^^•^^ 



Scotch- Irish Pioneers. 



VII. EDUCATION 

The Beginnings of Education. — The education of chil- 
dren was duly provided for in Penn's laws. Whether rich 
or poor, they were to enjoy both book-learning and industrial 
training. Parents, under penalty, were directed to see that 
their children should be "able to read the Scripture and 
to write by the time they attain to twelve years of age, 
and that then they be taught some useful trade or skill, 
that the poor may work to live and the rich, if they become 
poor, may not want." This was the beginning of compul- 
sory and vocational education in Pennsylvania. 

As soon as Philadelphia had been founded, the Gov- 
ernor and Council formally asked Enoch Flower to become 
the to\\Ti "School Master." They agreed that learning to 
read should cost four shillings per quarter; learning to read 
and write, six shillings; and learning to read, write, and 
cast accounts, eight shillings. 

Flower died the next year, and there were almost no 
school facilities until a public grammar school was founded 
by the Quakers in 1689. Twelve years later Penn granted 
a charter to the institution which flourishes today as the 
Penn Charter School. It still bears on its seal the arms of 
Penn. George Keith, a Scotchman, became its first master. 

During the fifty years after the establishment of the 
Penn Charter School the colony grew and prospered amaz- 
ingly, but suffered from a lack of more institutions for 

S3 



54 EDUCATION 

higher education. It was said that the sons of the best 
men of Pennsylvania were notably inferior to their fathers. 
Benjamin Franklin, with his usual good sense, perceived 
the need for an academy or college, but several years passed 
before steps were taken to meet that need. 

In 1749 Franklin at last brought about the establish- 
ment of an academy, which was soon chartered as a college. 
The Penns gave liberally to its support and the young 
provost, William Smith, collected great sums in England. 
The college continued with great success until the Revolu- 
tion began. As its trustees supported the English cause, 
the college properties were handed over to a "University 
of the State of Pennsylvania" in charge of new heads with 
patriot sympathies. In 1789 the rights and the property 
of the College were restored. Two years later the College 
and the University united under the name of "The University 
of Pennsylvania." The honorable career of the University 
since that time is known to all. 

Education Among the German Settlers. — It is note- 
worthy that Francis Daniel Pastorius, the leader of the 
first Germans in Pennsylvania, was a man of education, 
though he often lamented that he had not taken up practical 
studies like engineering or printing. When the Friends 
set up a free public school in Germantown they chose 
Pastorius as one of its two teachers. School lasted eight 
hours every week-day except Saturday, when the lessons 
were confined to the morning. For this school Pastorius 
wrote a text-book — the first school book published in Penn- 
sylvania — which was printed by Christopher Sauer. Pas- 
torius continued teaching up to the last years of his long 
life. 



EDUCATION 



55 



During colonial times, Schlatter and Muhlenberg, the 
leaders of the Reformed and Lutheran Germans, made 
great efforts to further education among their people, but 
with little success. Now, however, a number of small 
colleges have been fostered by German influence. Among 







V'\CA><''"»-^i=^ 



The "Log College." 

these are Franklin and Marshall College at Lancaster, 
Ursinus College at Collegeville on the Perkiomen, iMuhlen- 
berg College at Allentown, and Pemisylvania College at 
Gettysburg. 

Education Among the Scotch=Irish. — The Scotch-Irish 



56 EDUCATION 

had a strong bent for education. Each of their settlements 
possessed both a church and a school, and even on the 
frontier they tried to set up institutions of learning. The 
biographies of many of the prominent Scotch-Irish men 
in our history plainly show the efforts which they made, 
under great difficulties, to gain an education. 

One of the most famous schools of our early history 
was set up by William Tennent, a Presbyterian minister 
who was a remarkable man. On the banks of the Neshaminy, 
in Bucks County, stood his little log building with its 
single room, twenty feet square. In this "Log College" 
Tennent educated not only his own four sons, all of whom 
became notable preachers, but also many other young men. 
Several of Tennent's pupils set up similar institutions, 
and the title "Log College" came to mean excellence in 
mental development. From the influence of the "Log 
College" in time grew Princeton University, Washington 
and Jefferson College in Washington County, and Dickinson 
College at Carlisle. 



VIII. THE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH OF 
PENNSYLVANIA 

Agriculture. — Pennsylvania had a more rapid growth 
than any other colony in America. The settlers found a 
fertile soil, a pleasant climate and a variety of natural 
products. Agriculture was the basis of the colony. When 
Philadelphia had only one hundred and fifty houses (1684) 
Perm estimated that five hundred farms were in operation 
nearby. "The country," he said, "is like the best vales 
of England w^atered by brooks." 

It was indeed a fine land for grain growing. Vegetables 
and fruits were produced in great variety. In the open 
woods and along the many clear streams fed cattle and 
sheep by thousands. The farming implements then in 
use were extremely clumsy. Hand-rakes, heavy hoes, rude 
scythes or small sickles, and wooden plows, taxed the 
strength of the workers in the field. In spite of these primi- 
tive tools, how^ever, the crops produced were abundant. 
Wheat, beef, pork, butter, cheese, and apples were soon 
available for export. 

Manufacturing. — Flour and grist mills were needed to 
grind the grain. The Swedes had already established a 
mill on Cobb's Creek and one on Frankford Creek, and 
many others sprang up on various streams. The first 
paper mill in Pennsylvania was built in 1690, near the 
Wissahickon, by WiUiam Ryttinghuisen or Rittenhouse, 

57 



58 



THE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH OF PENNSYLVANIA 



from Holland. We still call the stream on which it stood 
Paper Mill Run. This paper was made from linen rags, 
and the linen came from the weavers of Germantown. 
As no cotton was then available, clothing had to be made 
from linen, wool or leather. A popular mixture of linen 
and wool was called 
linsey-woolsey. The 
looms of the settlers 
kept busily whirring. 

Shoes, breeches, 
belts, saddle-bags, 
saddles, and harness 
demanded much 
leather. Fortunate- 
ly, hides and skins 
were abundant. The 
tanning liquor came 
from the bark of the 
hemlocks which 
grew on every rocky 
slope. The same 
trees furnished part 
of the lumber which 
the settlers needed, 
but better than 

hemlock timber was that of pine, oak, hickory, and chest- 
nut, all found in plenty. 

Iron at first was a scarce commodity. A hundred 
pounds of iron were worth a good cow, and all the iron used 
had to be imported from England. As the colony developed, 
iron ore was discovered in many places. In 1718 iron was 




The Rittenhouse Home on Paper Mill Run. 



THE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH OF PF,NNSYI.VANIA 50 

made at Coventry Forge on French Creek in Chester 
Count}', and at Pool Forge on ManatawTiy Creek near the 
present site of Pottstown. Colebrookdale Furnace, in 
Berks County, and Reading and Warwick Furnaces, in 
Chester County, followed. Soon there were numerous 
iron-works, using for fuel the charcoal manufactured nearby. 

The forges supplied tough wrought iron to the black- 
smiths of the various settlements. Many a farmer, however, 
was his own blacksmith, shoeing his own horses, putting 
hinges and latches on his own doors, and in winter hammer- 
ing out long nails. The blast which increased the heat of 
the furnace was operated by water power. All these primi- 
tive iron-works, therefore, were situated upon creeks. 
They put Pennsylvania into first place as iron-maker in 
America, and in this she has remained chief. 

Printing. — When Philadelphia was but two years old, 
William Bradford, a Londoner, set up "the great art and 
mystery of printing," as he called it in the almanacs which 
he printed. Bradford's was the only press between Boston 
and Mexico City. WTien he published the proprietor's 
name as "Lord Penn," the Council strongly objected, and 
he finally left the colony in anger. It was Bradford who 
encouraged Rittenhouse to erect his paper-mill near Ger- 
mantown. 

Bradford's son Andrew established (1719) the first 
newspaper published in the colonies south of Boston, and 
the third newspaper of all the colonies in point of time. 
This paper, the "American Weekly Mercury," was pub- 
lished weekly at the "Sign of the Bible" in Second Street, 
for houses then had no numbers. There was no local news, 
for most people had learned this by word of mouth before 



6o THE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH OF PENNSYLVANIA 




At the "Sign of the Bible." 



THE INDUSTRIAL (iROWTII OF I'ENNSYLVANIA 6i 

the paper appeared. There was Hule news from other 
colonies, for it was hard to get such word, so most of the 
reading concerned European occurrences. It was not 
until Franklin set up his printing shop in Philadelphia 
that a truly readable paper, the "Gazette,',' was published. 
Instead of a daily newspaper the colonists consulted a 
yearly almanac. Franklin's "Poor Richard's Almanac," 
though it was the most popular, had been preceded by 
many other such Philadelphia publications. 

These were the beginnings of Philadelphia's great 
printing and pubhshing business. In the early part of the 
nineteenth century it was known as the "Athens of America,'' 
with Poe, WTiittier, Longfellow and Lowell takmg part 
in its literary hfe. It is still noteworthy for its authors 
and publishers. 

Shipbuilding. — As early as 1683, a ship-yard was estab- 
lished at Philadelphia. The supply of oak timber seemed 
inexhaustible, and there was steady construction of vessels 
on the Delaware. Many of these craft were sold to foreign 
countries. The city became famous in this line, and during 
the Revolution produced fleets of patriot vessels. The 
first United States navy yard was placed here in 1798, 
and one of the finest government yards — League Island — 
is the pride of our present city. 

Commerce. — The chief articles of the first commerce 
of Pennsylvania were furs and skins, which the Indians 
eagerly brought in exchange for trinkets and tools. Soon^ 
however, the food supplies of Pennsylvania found a good 
market in England. The salted beef and smoked ham 
and bacon of the colony made cargoes in company with 
Pennsylvania wheat and flour. Thus the colonists were 



62 



TBE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH OF PENNSYLVANIA 



enabled to pay for the English glass, cutlery, silverware, 
fans, lace and ribbons, fine clothing and fine furniture 
which they needed. Our grain was marketed in many 
seaports of western Europe beside those of England. 




Loading Vessels with Flour at Philadelphia. 

There was a profitable coasting trade. Ships from the 
Delaware competed with those of Boston in all the ports 
from New Hampshire to South Carolina. "But after all," 
said Peter Kalm, the Swedish traveler, "Philadelphia 
reaps the greatest profits from its trade to the West Indies, 
for thither the inhabitants ship almost every day a quantity 



THE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH OF PENNSYLVANIA 63 

of flour, butter, flesh, and other victuals, timber and plank." 
In return for these goods, the Philadelphia merchants 
brought back sugar, molasses, and rum, all three commodi- 
ties much desired; or, instead of these, bags of Spanish 
dollars. The money, however, soon found its way to 
England to help pay the many debts of the colonists, and 
hard cash remained a scarce article. 

Restrictions on Trade and Industry. — England looked 
upon her colonies as children who must support their 
mother and must not interfere with her in business. It 
was intended that the mother-country should do the manu- 
facturing and that the colonies should furnish her with 
raw materials and with food. All their trade should be 
with England, The Navigation Acts tried to confine the 
commerce of the colonies to English vessels manned by 
English crews. 

The colonists of Pennsylvania and the other provinces, 
being intelligent as well as industrious, soon turned their 
attention to manufacturing. Much beaver fur and some 
wool were used in making hats. As this was an important 
English industry, the mother-country forbade hats to be 
exported from the colonies and tried to prevent them from 
being manufactured at all. Parliament endeavored to stop 
food-stuffs being sent to foreign ports and to prohibit 
any trade with the French West Indies. "No matter what 
the price, you must deal with us," said England. 

No doubt the colonists would have rebelled early against 
such interference with their trade if they had found no wa\' 
to evade the regulations. Smuggling, however, was the 
way of escape. England was far away, and England's 
officers in America were not always watchful. Even the 



64 THE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH OF PENNSYLVANIA 

most vigilant officers could not guard every bay and river 
in the long coast-line. Although the colonists thus managed 
to carry on a certain amount of unlawful trade despite 
regulations, such laws greatly interfered with commerce 
and almost crushed manufacturmg. When the Revolution 
came, Pennsylvania trade and industry sprang up like a 
giant released from fetters. The Revolution itseh was 
largely caused by the commercial interference which drove 
colonists to scorn and evade the laws of England. 

The Development of Pennsylvania. — Though founded 
late in colonial history, by the time the Revolution began 
Pennsylvania had surpassed all the other colonies except 
Massachusetts and Virginia, and Philadelphia was the 
chief city of America. The commerce of the colony was 
great. Hundreds of vessels visited the Delaware each year 
and imports doubled in a decade. Although large numbers 
of laborers emigrated to Pennsylvania, the chances for 
success were so great that the "hired hand" soon "set up 
for himself" in farming or trade. In less than a hundred 
years the commonwealth which Penn founded had become, 
as he wished, "an example and a standard." 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 208 322 A 



